Talk:Firestarter (2)/@comment-11342320-20150110015151
I have been reading 21 nightmare-inducing moments from Degrassi TNG/Degrassi and Stephen stohn has given a little insight into some of these moments and it's really interesting. 1. Being shot in the hall (Time Stands Still Part 1 & 2) Degrassi experienced this popular tragedy when Rick (who already had a bad rap for putting his girlfriend in a coma) was bullied with feathers. He shot Jimmy. Then Rick was accidentally shot and died. Stohn said, “We did a lot of research for that episode … we actually flew Barbara Coloroso of The Bully, The Bullied, and the Bystander up here to Degrassi and she met with our writers and helped us frame the story.” Jimmy lived, but was paralyzed and spent the remainder of his Degrassi days in a wheelchair. “The story I really wanted for Jimmy was to see him graduate and walk across the stage to collect his diploma.” Stohn said. “My eyes actually get moist when I think about this.” Unfortunately, actor Aubrey Graham became Drake and left during the 08/09 season when this would have occurred. 2. Having an abortion (Accidents Will Happen Part 1 & 2) Season three brought us this controversial episode where Manny decides to have an abortion with no regrets. Originally, this episode was not aired in the U.S. “It’s fascinating to us as Canadians -— and I won’t say abortion is not an issue for us in Canada -— but it never even occurred to us that it could be all that controversial,” Stohn recalls. “Our Canadian broadcaster at the time, CTV, never batted an eye … we produced the episode, were very pleased with the balance we showed and how we portrayed the difficult decision. So we were surprised when the broadcaster in the United States said we can’t show this episode.” The episode is also an echo to a Degrassi Classic episode from 1989, when Erica decided to have an abortion. This episode ended with her going to the clinic and a protestor holding a plastic fetus up to her face. American broadcaster PBS aired the episode but cut the final scene. 3. Cutting with a compass (Whisper to a Scream) Ellie is pressured to the max: she’s an intern for Caitlin Ryan’s TV show, her dad leaves her to join the army, her mom is an alcoholic, and so on. She begins cutting herself with a compass to deal with it all. “I’m sort of ashamed to say this, but I had never even heard of cutting,” Stohn said. “And as the writers came to Linda and me and talked about it, we realized that cutting is out there and it’s a genuine problem.” 4. People find out you were born a girl (My Body Is A Cage Part 1 & 2) Adam is outed as transgender in Season 10 when his dance partner in gym accidentally feels his taped-down breasts. To deal with his issues of gender dysphoria he burns himself. This episode really riled up the Florida Family Association. “It’s really one guy based out of Florida,” said Stohn. “His main message is that if you watch Degrassi you’ll turn gay. I don’t think he quite understood the concept of transgender laughs. We created the Becky Baker character -— we love that character -— and we specifically made her from Florida as a secret homage to the Florida Family Association.” 5. Finding a dead body (Bitter Sweet Symphony Part 1 & 2) Eli is a death magnet. His girlfriend died, he was nearly stabbed at a school dance, he drives a hearse, so of course he and Clare are the ones to discover the dead body of Cam Saunders, the student who committed suicide. Stohn said, “The one topic that we had never been able to do that we wanted to tackle was suicide. It’s so difficult to tell a suicide story. And, of course, we have to be extremely sensitive to any kind of triggering or copy cat. And we don’t want to be exploitative. To be able to tell a suicide story and to have it real, as with all of our stories, it’s very important that it happens to a main character.” 6. Marriage (Degrassi Takes Manhattan) Emma and Spinner get married at a casino. They were, of course, drunk. They were not actually in love. After the marriage they convinced themselves that they’d always been in love and should stay married. Stohn said, “I was devastated when the writers wanted to marry Emma to Spinner. I’ve always hoped that we could have a reunion episode, maybe even a feature film, where Sean comes back from Afghanistan and by that time Emma and Spinner have split. And she’ll get together with her true love, Sean.”